Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Genesis 38:1-26 or Isaiah 40:21-31

Psalm 18:31-36, 43-50

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Matthew 12:1-21

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Temple prostitution, in the background in Genesis 38, might be background for 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 also. If it is, the reading becomes deeper than it is otherwise. If to engage in sexual relations with a pagan prostitute is to unite with the deity the prostitute serves, idolatry becomes an issue. Christians are supposed to function as part of the body of Christ, therefore visiting a pagan temple prostitute is worse than visiting a prostitute in general.

Speaking of Genesis 38, it is another of those different stories we find frequently in the Hebrew Bible. It remains a proverbial hot potato. When must a father-in-law sire his grandsons? When the laws governing levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5-10) dictate. The text does not condemn Tamar for her deceit either, for the narrative makes plain that it was the option left open to her.

In June 1996 my father became the pastor of the Asbury United Methodist Church in northern Appling County, Georgia, U.S.A. One of the adult Sunday School classes was reading the Book of Genesis a chapter at a time. One week the teacher announced that the class would not discuss Chapter 38 (although they had apparently discussed Chapter 37 the previous week), but would talk about Chapter 39 instead. I wonder if the teacher also skipped the rape of Dinah and the subsequent bloodbath in Chapter 34. Probably, yes.

When passages of scripture make us that uncomfortable, we should study them. We should study all of the Bible, of course, but double down on the parts that cause us to squirm.

God is strong, mighty, loving, and trustworthy, we read. Sometimes mercy on some takes the form of judgment on others. After all, judgment on oppressors does help the oppressed, does it not?

Much occurs theologically in Matthew 12:1-21, but the major point is that mercy overrides Sabbath laws. We read that some labor was mandatory on the Sabbath, especially for priests. So yes, we read Jesus announce, the hungry may pluck grain and the man with the withered hand may receive healing, not just rudimentary first aid.

In the Gospel of Matthew one of the points drilled into the text was that Jesus did not seek to destroy the Law of Moses. No, he presented his interpretation as correct and in opposition to the interpretations of his critics. Jesus stood within the context of Judaism, not against it. For example, the Mishnah, published in 200 C.E. (about 170 years after the crucifixion of Jesus), listed 39 types of labor prohibited on the Sabbath. Plucking food was not one of them. Christ’s opponents in Chapter 12:1-21 were, to use an anachronistic expression, more Catholic than the Pope.

The Sabbath, in the Law of Moses, was about liberation. Slaves in Egypt received no days off, so a day off was a mark of freedom. Besides, science and experience have taught us the necessity of down time. Much of my Christian tradition has reacted against leisure (especially “worldly amusements,” a bane of Pietism and Puritanism) and insisted that idle hands are the Devil’s workshop. Nevertheless, science and experience have affirmed the necessity of a certain amount of idleness.

Judaism, at its best, is not legalistic; neither is Christianity. Yet legalistic Jews and Christians exist. A healthy attitude is to seek to respond to God faithfully, without becoming lost in the thicket of laws, without failing to see the forest for the trees, without mistaking culturally specific examples for timeless principles, without shooting cannon balls at gnats, and without forgetting mercy.

And while one is doing that, one should read the scriptural passages that make one squirm in one’s seat.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 30, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CLARENCE JORDAN, SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF RAVENNA AND DEFENDER OF ORTHODOXY

THE FEAST OF SAINT VICENTA CHÁVEZ OROZCO, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND THE POOR

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Genesis 37:1-28 or Isaiah 30:15-25

Psalm 18:16-30

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

Matthew 11:2-19

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Patriarchs in Genesis had dysfunctional families. Abraham tried to kill his son Isaac, on faith that God had told him to do so. (Yes, I argue with that story.) Isaac’s son Jacob, with the help of Jacob’s mother, fooled him and defrauded Esau. Jacob seemed not to care about the rape of his daughter Dinah and, in a different context, acted in such a way as to foster tension among his sons, most of whom fooled him into thinking that his son Joseph was dead. With family like that, who needs enemies?

The main idea in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 is that believers ought to conduct themselves in ways that glorify God and distinguish them from unbelievers. Yet even when holy people do that, they will still receive criticism, for some people thrive on finding faults, even if those faults are imaginary. It is preferable that the criticisms be baseless; that way they show up the critics.

During the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah (reigned 727/715-698/687 B.C.E.), the kingdom entered into a military alliance with Egypt against Assyria. This was an ill-advised alliance; Egypt was not trustworthy. The author of Isaiah 30 argued that the alliance indicated a lack of trust in God, who was reliable. After the announcement of divine wrath followed the prediction of mercy.

Trusting in God liberates one to do as one should and become the person one should be. One can lay aside the desire for revenge, not to lead a life defined by anger, and value justice instead. With confidence in God one can avoid foolish decisions that end badly. One, trusting in God, can find the source of ultimate peace and strength.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 30, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CLARENCE JORDAN, SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF RAVENNA AND DEFENDER OF ORTHODOXY

THE FEAST OF SAINT VICENTA CHÁVEZ OROZCO, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND THE POOR

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Genesis 34 or Isaiah 29:13-24

Psalm 18:1-15

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Matthew 10:34-11:1

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We have some unpleasant content this week–rape, deceit, and murder in Genesis 34 and incest in 1 Corinthians 5.

The rape of Dinah is one of those stories that makes people squirm. Dinah is the only completely sympathetic character. Jacob, her father, is indifferent to her plight. Her brothers Simeon and Levi are sympathetic until they entrap and massacre Canaanite men still recuperating from circumcision. Shechem the rapist is not sympathetic at all; neither is his father Hamor. Still, Simeon and Levi, avengers of their sister, are somewhat sympathetic characters.

At least they cared about what had happened to her, what was happening to her, and might happen to her.

As for Dinah, given the realities of her situation in a patriarchal culture that shamed raped women, her future seemed bleak. Who would marry her now? And marrying her rapist was not a good option either. She almost dropped out of the narrative; her name recurred in the census in Genesis 46. She had no descendants.

Her brothers’ vengeance brought them material gain and ego boosts, but wounded their souls and diminished them as human beings. It made a bad situation worse.

Trust in God, most of the assigned readings tell us. Trust in God when doing so is difficult. Trust in God and live accordingly. Trust in God, take up one’s cross, follow Jesus, and take care of each other. Trust in God when one’s family abandons one.

Trusting in God can prove challenging during the best of times, especially if one insists on self-reliance. Trusting in God when one is in dire straits can therefore be more difficult. Yet I know from experience that trusting in God might be easier in times of dire straits if, for perhaps no other reason, one is acutely aware of one’s dependence on God and of God’s presence. God is always with us. If one likens God to a lamp turned on, one might understand my point. One might notice the light during daylight, but the light is more noticeable at night.

Trusting in God also entails leaving desires for revenge unfulfilled. Vengeance might prove satisfying in the short term, but it devours those who have committed it.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 30, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CLARENCE JORDAN, SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF RAVENNA AND DEFENDER OF ORTHODOXY

THE FEAST OF SAINT VICENTA CHÁVEZ OROZCO, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND THE POOR

Sovereign God, you turn your greatness into goodness for all the peoples on earth.

Shape us into willing servants of your kingdom,

and make us desire always and only your will,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 50

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The Assigned Readings:

Genesis 14:17-24

Psalm 91:9-16

Romans 15:7-13

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Because they have set their love upon me,

therefore will I deliver them;

I will lift them up, because they know my name.

They will call upon me, and I will answer them;

I am with them in trouble,

I will deliver them and bring them to honour.

–Psalm 91:14-15, Common Worship (2000)

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Who was Melchizedek? He was a mysterious figure, the King of Salem (Jerusalem) and a “priest of the Most High” (Genesis 14:18, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures). “The God Most High” might have been Yahweh; the text is ambiguous. So Melchizedek, to whom the victorious warrior and patriarch Abram (Abraham) paid a tithe might have belonged to a pagan cult. If so, the patriarch paid homage to a pagan deity. On the other hand, Melchizedek might have been a Gentile devotee of Yahweh. Sometimes one wishes that certain Biblical texts were unambiguous.

Interpreting “the God Most High” to mean Yahweh meshes well with Romans 15:7-13. St. Paul the Apostle, who quoted, in order, Psalm 18:49, Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 117:1, and Isaiah 11:10 (all from the Septuagint; sometimes that translation contains some words crucial to his point and absent from other versions), argued that God calls both Jews and Gentiles. The Gospel is therefore inclusive.

Romans 15:7-13 brings up issues far beyond Jewish-Christian relations. During the time of St. Paul Christianity was a Jewish sect, albeit one open to Gentiles. Furthermore, the Apostle was always Jewish. He dealt with issues of identity, some of which went back to the time of Abraham. Would permitting uncircumcised Gentile men to convert to Christianity without first becoming Jews threaten Jewish identity? Many Jews (including Christians) thought so. Passages such as the pericope from Romans took on greater and different significance after the formal split of Christianity from Judaism during the Second Jewish War in 135 C.E.

Within Christianity the pericope remains significant. We, the Gentiles, have our own “Gentiles,” whom we define according to a variety of standards, including race, ethnicity, gender, language, culture, and physical capabilities. Labeling as outsiders those whom God calls insiders is sinful. It harms them and hinders the community of faith while making those who label narrowly feel good about themselves in the context of their imagined exclusive status. And most of us who call ourselves Christians have engaged in this unfortunate behavior or will do so, given sufficient time.

May God forgive us, help us to do better, and create a more inclusive community of faith, for the glory of God.

Above: The Anointing of Jesus, from The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

A Screen Capture via PowerDVD

Kindness, Love, and Gratitude

AUGUST 28, 29, and 30, 2014

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The Collect:

O God, with all your faithful followers in every age, we praise you, the rock of our life.

Be our strong foundation and form us into the body of your Son,

that we may gladly minister to all the world,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 45

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The Assigned Readings:

1 Samuel 7:3-13 (Monday)

Deuteronomy 32:18-20, 28-39 (Tuesday)

Isaiah 28:14-22 (Wednesday)

Psalm 18:1-3, 20-32 (All Days)

Romans 2:1-11 (Monday)

Romans 11:33-36 (Tuesday)

Matthew 26:6-13 (Wednesday)

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I love you, O Lord my strength.

The Lord is my crag, my fortress and my deliverer,

My God, the rock in whom I take refuge,

my shield, the horn of my salvation and my stronghold.

I cried to the Lord in my anguish

and I was saved from my enemies.

–Psalm 18:1-3, Common Worship (2000)

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Each of the four canonical Gospels contains an account of a woman anointing Jesus–Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-50, and John 12:1-8. The versions are sufficiently similar to indicate that they are variations on the same event yet different enough to disagree on certain details, such as chronology, at whose house the anointing happened, which part of his body the woman anointed, and the woman’s background. These factors tell me that something occurred, but the divergence among the written accounts means that I have no way of knowing exactly what transpired in objective reality. None of that changes one iota of the spiritual value of the stories, however.

In the Matthew account our Lord and Savior, about to die, is a the home of one Simon the leper in Bethany. We know nothing about the woman’s background, not even her name. In the Gospel of Luke she is an unnamed and repentant sinner, in the Gospel of John she is St. Mary of Bethany, and in the Gospel of Mark she is also an unnamed woman of whose background we know nothing. The importance of her–whoever she was–act was that unselfish love and gratitude motivated it. This was an extravagant and beautiful deed. Yes, the poor will always be with us; that is an unfortunate reality. May, through the creation of more opportunities for advancement, there be as little poverty as possible. But, as we strive for that goal, may we never fail to recognize and give proper attention to lavish kindness, love, and gratitude.

The woman (whoever she was) had a good attitude and a pure motivation. Most of the assigned readings for these days, however, speak of people who did not. Their memorials were wastelands and periods of exile. The woman’s legacy is an honored one, however. Her act, as extravagant as it was, was as nothing compared to what God has done, is doing, and will do for all of us. Even the most lavish act of gratitude–beautiful, to be sure, is inadequate, but God accepts it graciously.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 19, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT POEMAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINTS JOHN THE DWARF AND ARSENIUS THE GREAT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS

–Martin Leckebusch, Verse 3, “Refuge and Rock,” a paraphrase of Psalm 18 in Psalms for All Seasons: A Complete Psalter for Worship (2012)

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Elihu, in the Book of Job, was a pious idiot. He condemned Job for challenging God and was sure that the titular character of the text must have done something wrong, for surely a just deity would not permit the innocent to suffer.

The Almighty–we cannot find him;

he is great in power and justice,

and abundant righteousness he will not violate.

Therefore mortals fear him;

he does not regard any who are wise in their conceit.

–Job 37:23-24, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

The Book of Job 1 and 2, had established, however, that God had permitted this suffering as a test of loyalty. And, starting in Chapter 38, when God spoke to Job, one of the most impatient people in the Bible (despite the inaccurate cliché about the “patience of Job”), the divine reply contained no apology.

(Yes, I know of the layers of composition in the Book of Job, that Elihu’s section was not part of the original text and that the prose wraparounds came later, but I am, in this post, treating the book as a whole, as we have received the final version.)

The readings from Genesis contain parts of accounts of divine destruction of the wicked and sparing of some people in the process. The men of Sodom were as anxious to rape women as they were to violate angels, so their issue was not homosexual orientation or practice but violence against almost anyone on two legs. Their sin involved the opposite of hospitality in a place and at a time when the lack of hospitality could prove fatal for guests or world-be guests. Lot was morally troublesome, for he offered his virgin daughters to the rape gang. Those same daughters got him drunk and committed incest with him later in the chapter. Abraham had at least negotiated with God in an attempt to save lives in Genesis 18:20-33, but Noah did nothing of the sort in his time, according to the stories we have received.

Sometimes the faithful response to God is to argue, or at least to ask, “Did I hear you right?” The Bible contains references to God changing the divine mind and to God holding off judgment for a time. I am keenly aware of the unavoidable anthropomorphism of the deity in the Bible, so I attempt to see through it, all the way to the reality behind it. That divine reality is mysterious and ultimately unfathomable. The titular character of the Book of Job was correct to assert his innocence, which the text had established already, but, in the process of doing so he committed the same error as did Elihu and the three main alleged friends; he presumed to think to know how God does or should work.

This occupies my mind as I read elsewhere (than in the mouth of Elihu or one of the three main alleged friends of Job) about the justice, judgment, and mercy of God. I recall that the prophet Jeremiah argued with God bitterly and faithfully–often for vengeance on enemies. I think also of the repeated cries for revenge and questions of “how long?” in the Book of Psalms and the placement of the same lament in the mouths of martyrs in Heaven in the Book of Revelation. And I recall how often God has extended mercy to me in my ignorance, faithlessness, and panic-driven errors. I conclude that I must continue to seek to embrace the mystery of God, rejecting temptations to accept false and deceptively easy answers as I choose the perhaps difficult alternative of a lack of an answer or a satisfactory reply instead. God is God; I am not. That much I know. Nevertheless, some more answers from God might be good to have. May the faithful argument continue.

Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.

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Deuteronomy 6:4-13 (Richard Elliott Friedman, 2001):

Listen, Israel: YHWH is our God. YHWH is one. And you shall love YHWH, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. And you shall impart them to your children, and you shall speak about them when you sit in your house and when you go in the road and when you lie down and when you get up. And you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall become bands between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and in your gates.

And it will be when YHWH, your God, will bring you to the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you big and good cities that you didn’t build, and houses filled with everything good that you didn’t fill, and cisterns hewed that you didn’t hew, vineyards and olives that you didn’t plant, and you’ll eat and be satisfied, watch yourself in case you’ll forget YHWH, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from a house of slaves. It’s YHWH, your God, whom you’ll fear, and it’s He whom you’ll serve, and it in His name that you’ll swear….

Psalm 18:1-2, 48-50 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 I love you, O LORD my strength,

O LORD my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.

2 My God, my rock in whom I put my trust,

my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my refuge;

you are worthy of praise.

48 You rescued me from the fury of my enemies;

you exalted me above those who rose against me;

you saved me from my deadly foe.

49 Therefore will I extol you among the nations, O LORD,

and sing praises to your Name.

50 He multiplies the victories of his king;

he knows loving-kindness to his anointed,

to David and his descendants for ever.

Matthew 17:14-20 (J. B. Phillips, 1972):

When they returned to the crowd again a man came and knelt in front of Jesus.

Lord, have pity on my son,” he said, “for he is a lunatic and suffers terribly. He is always falling into the fire or into the water. I did bring him to your disciples but they couldn’t cure him.

Jesus returned,

You really are an unbelieving and difficult people. How long must I be with you, and how long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me!

Then Jesus spoke sternly to the evil spirit and it went out of the boy, who was cured from that moment.

Afterwards the disciples approached Jesus privately and asked,

Why weren’t we able to get rid of it?

Jesus replied,

Because you have so little faith I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard-seed you can say to this hill, ‘Up you get and move over there!” and it will move–and you will find nothing is impossible.

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The Collect:

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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The reading from Deuteronomy contains the Shema, an oft-quoted passage within the Bible. Jesus quotes in the canonical Gospels, for example, and pairs it with the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself. On these two commands, he says, hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Professor Richard Elliott Friedman, in his Commentary on the Torah, says this about the Shema:

In comparing Israel’s monotheism to pagan religion, we must appreciate that the difference between one and many is not the same sort of thing as the difference between two and three or between six and twenty. It is not numerical. It is a different concept of what a god is. A God who is outside of nature, known through acts of history, a creator, unseeable, without a mate, who makes legal covenants with humans, who is one, is a revolution in religious conception. (Page 586)

Even more revolutionary is the Incarnation of Jesus, fully human and fully divine. This is God in both physical and visible forms, as Messiah, but not according to the prevailing expectations along the lines of national liberation. This is the one in whom I place faith, and in whom I can do more than many might think possible.

Think about the implications: God loves us and directs us in paths for our own good and that of those around us. So we have an obligation to reciprocate and to love our neighbors as ourselves–with great respect. We need to stand up for and help each other as we are able, and we need to act according to a principle that Martin Luther King, Jr., stated eloquently: “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.” We have an obligation to help each other become what God wants each to become. How we act toward each other is part and parcel of how we respond to God.

So this matter is far from abstract. Both trust in God and the lack thereof are observable. Compassion, kindness, and love are far more than warm, fuzzy feelings; they lead to observable deeds. May we show our love and regard for the God of history through our own actions toward each other.